The Ohio Secretary of State’s office will hold hearings today on two challenges of Libertarian Party candidates who want to appear on this year’s ballots.

The challenges are of gubernatorial candidate Charlie Earl and attorney general candidate Steven Linnabary. They center on how the two candidates circulated their petitions, and how the signatures on those petitions were counted.

Republican lawmakers passed a bill last year to make it more difficult for minor-party candidates to get on the ballot, but that was thrown out by a federal judge in January. Libertarians claim the Republicans are trying to find other ways to sink their candidacies.

Capital University law professor and former Federal Elections Commission member Brad Smith will conduct the hearings.